


In Dorne, the roses bow before the sun

by cortchuzska



Series: Of suns and roses [8]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-09
Updated: 2012-05-09
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/400671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cortchuzska/pseuds/cortchuzska
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doran persuades Arianne to agree to her marriage with Willas Tyrell; then Arianne persuades Mace Tyrell.</p><p>“We should consider Sunspear proposal as amends for Oberyn Martell injuring you.” Lord Mace Tyrell stated.<br/>His son Willas couldn't help wondering what the Martells regarded him as reparations for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The suns of Dorne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doran persuades Arianne to agree to her marriage with Willas Tyrell

“We should consider Sunspear proposal as amends for Oberyn Martell injuring you.” Lord Mace Tyrell stated.

His son Willas couldn't help wondering what the Martells regarded him as reparations for.

## The suns of Dorne

_Doran persuades Arianne to agree to her marriage with Willas Tyrell_

“I'm getting old, and Sunspear needs an heir. I'd like you to consider a possible marriage.” Prince Doran Martell paused, and waited for an answer from his daughter Arianne, ruling Princess to be.

Arianne kept silent.

“All my plans went amiss.” He said painfully. “No Martell will ever sit on that throne. Still, you're Heiress to Sunspear, and you will rule Dorne.”

“Who is he.” Arianne yawned. “Any arranged agreement already?”

She didn't feign any interest. Likely another old fellow, from some lesser house. Such were the men her father regarded as her eligible husbands.

“I'm taking you're not marrying in any minor house.” Her father sighed.

“No. I'm not. I'm Dorne Princess.” She curtly replied.

“You are right. You are Dorne Princess. And you know your duties to Dorne.”

“To have an heir, I know. It would help the groom being younger than the Wall.”

“He is about your age. A Great House firstborn, as you are.”

Too good to be true.

“Willas Tyrell. I've resolved he could be a suitable choice.”

Willas Tyrell, the Heir to Highgarden. A gentle, well read man, about her age; and a cripple.

Maimed by her uncle Oberyn, when Willas was such a young tourney promise, something that the Tyrells would never forget, even if the Reach and Dorne, the Martells and the Tyrells were not the enemies they had always been.

Was her father insane?

“I'm just asking you to consider about it. We can discuss at ease tomorrow.”

\--o--

She did consider, and to her dismay she realized her father was as usual right.

As for other Great Houses, the Starks were too young, too cripple, too dead. Robert Arryn a sickly boy, unlikely to pass his teens.

The Lannisters – she wryly laughed at the idea – not even if Tyrion had not slain his own father, his marriage with Sansa Stark could be voided, and he rivalled his brother Jaime both in braveness and beauty.

The Greyjoys – she shuddered: sanity was not their finest virtue. The Seven were told to flip a coin at a Targaryen's birth, but they seldom bothered with a Greyjoy.

The Tullys were no more in charge of the Riverrun, and Edmure was already married. Maybe his uncle Brynden, but he was nowhere to be found and older than her own father. He wouldn't likely marry her anyway: he broke his betrothal when he was young, and never wed later.

She wished she was not the heiress of Dorne, but a second child of some other house, so she could escape an unwanted marriage as Brynden did. Rubbish. In the Seven Kingdoms, high-born girls were traded in their teens to increase their fathers' power through allegiances, for money, or just for nothing.

She was the heiress to Sunspear, and she knew her duties. She had to marry in a Great House, since Dorne needed powerful alliances in such troubled times.


	2. The rose of Highgarden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arianne persuades Maces Tyrell to agree to her marriage with Willas

“It's not going to be easy. The Tyrells don't like us, nor Dornish people would like to be ruled by a Tyrell.”

“Still, I'm their best choice for their cripple son. They had plans to marry him to Sansa Stark or Cersei Lannister: both went awry. Margaery has wed three kings, it's likely they will consider Great Houses only. What they lust for his prestige, they don't need a brood mare from a lesser house: Garlan already has children.”

“Highgarden has plenty of them, we none: then we have to make sure your firstborn heir is for Dorne, and for Dorne only.”

“How could it be, father? According to Rhoynar law, if I had a fatherless child, but the Tyrells will never allow that.”

Her father smiled. “We will find a way. You have to learn how to turn liabilities into your main asset.”

Arianne muttered “I remember some books uncle Oberyn used to read to us girls: Rhoyne, stories of old, that kind of stuff. I'm going to ask Tyene to let me in her father's library.”

“Good girl.” Doran Martell kissed his daugther's forehead.

\--o--

In Prince Oberyn's rich library, thanks to the years he spent at the Citadel and across the Narrow Sea, there were rare troves he brought back from the Free Cities, and treasures that couldn't be found anywhere else in the Seven Kingdoms. Arianne got what she was looking for.

“Clever. I dare say, brilliant.” Doran Martell approved. “It needs some polishing, though. We must account for every option: because every option shall turn to our advantage.”

Arianne smiled.

“I remind you that as a carpet on the loom should be concealed till the pattern is complete, even the best plans can be fooled, if not kept secret until its time is ripe.” Her father stared at her. “No one shall know.”

“Not even the Sand Snakes.” Arianne meant it. “But we must needs tell who will carry out talks with Highgarden.”

“No need for that, Princess. You are in charge of diplomatic negotiations with House Tyrell. I expect you, tomorrow early in the morning. We have some work to do.”

Her plan was brought to perfection. Her father was not treating her as a little girl anymore.

Arianne would have gladly married late Walder Frey for that only; but she had other plans.

\--o--

Mace Tyrell was easily gullible, but he knew how to choose his man, and they were not, so he left the treaty to them: Arianne knew it wasn't going to be easy, and it took hours of laborious diplomacy, but he her father had schooled her well.

He didn’t take part in negotiations, due to his poor health, so the heir to Highgarden was equally to be excused: their Great Houses had to be treated on a par. Lord Mace was firm on the point - was he afraid she could back out? or would he rather spare his maimed son the risk of being spurned? She smirked: he looked like such a caring father. Her father’s concept of protecting her was rather not sparing her anything.

Lord Mace was mainly interested in the ceremony; the Rhoynar wedding got all his attention, so Arianne gladly diffused about it. He would have liked to attend in Sunspear, but due to Houses equality rule, it was not possible, since her father could not travel to Highgarden, where the more usual rite would take place in the Sept. At the last moment, she decided to strip out the bedding, and that won her Mace Tyrell. After all, which loving father would not spare his cripple son scorn and humiliation, if it could only be avoided? Since the marriage of Tyrion Lannister, the Imp, beddings sounded so out of date...

Arianne got her nuptial agreements just how she and her father wanted them to be.


End file.
